‘Fatal point of no return’: Putin warns against use of nukes amid global tensions

Key Points:

• Russian President Vladimir Putin warned at the Valdai Forum that escalating international conflicts risk reaching a "fatal point of no return," emphasizing that weapons of mass destruction must never be used due to their catastrophic potential.
• Putin accused Western countries of directly supporting Ukraine's attacks inside Russia, labeling Ukraine as a proxy in the conflict, and warned that Russia would monitor but not currently attack foreign factories supplying weapons to Ukraine.
• Russia threatened to use its full military arsenal if its Baltic exclave Kaliningrad came under threat, while asserting it has no plans to attack European countries and framing its recent letter to NATO as non-confrontational.
• Putin predicted continued international conflicts amid global power shifts and diminishing Western hegemony, expressing cautious support for trilateral talks involving Russia, China, and the US, and highlighted hopes for eased sanctions on Iran and ongoing cooperation with Japan despite concerns over militarization.
• He condemned military drills and arrests of Russian vessels as escalatory actions, asserting Russia's competitive advantage in self-defense and stressing the urgent need to avoid catastrophic outcomes from escalating global tensions.